Video games and economic development

There is an excellent article on the front page of the NY Times on the rise of these multi-player video games as a spectator sport. From the article:

The video game Dota 2, like so many across the Internet, transports teams of players from their bedrooms to a verdant virtual world where they smite each other through keyboard and mouse clicks. Except on this sunny day in July, every attack and counterattack by a five-person team set off an eruption of cheers — from the more than 11,000 spectators crammed into this city’s basketball arena.

The contestants were gunning for a big piece of the $11 million in total prize money, the most ever at a games tournament. And the game’s developer, the Valve Corporation, moved another step closer to securing gaming’s legitimacy as a major-league spectator sport.

Theoretically a place like Moncton could be a centre for this type of entertainment pulling folks from across the Maritimes. But it would be rare for New Brunswick to get out front of a trend like this. It is more likely if this takes root it will start in Halifax and may eventually work its way up to New Brunswick.